Sweet Memory Recipe- Fish with Pineapple And Tomato

When I lived in Chicago, my family used to own a restaurant, the Vietnam Little Home, and it was a beginning of my journey when I first arrived in the United States in July of 1984 from Vietnam. I have so many sweet memories from our family's restaurant from the beginning when all of us were working together trying to create a business in the new country where everything was so unfamiliar to us – the people, the language and the culture. My father worked the early shift as a line cook at the St. Francis Hospital in Evanston and used the remaining hours of his day to shop for all the groceries for the restaurant. My mother was the primary chef in a tiny kitchen but she created so many wonderful dishes. Some of the dishes were from our family traditions but most of them were created during the time we owned the restaurant to suit the tastes of our predominantly Westerner customers. Thinking back at those years, I always feel that those were the best memories that I shared with my family because we all pulled together as a family to make the Vietnam Little Home successful. Working together generated enough income to help pay for the educational expenses of all my brothers and sisters. I will never forget the smile on my father's face when I reported to him that the sales went up on a Friday night. I knew at that moment, our restaurant would have a chance to be successful despite the fact that I did not speak a work of English at that time. The customers continued to support our restaurant because of my mother's recipes, and possibly the unconventional hostess with all her charms – me :-). I will now share one of the recipes for one of the dishes on the menu of the Vietnam Little Home so you can be the judge. Additional VLH recipes will be revealed later.
Ingredients:
1/2 lb white fish fillets, such as catfish, cod, or tilapia
2 cups fresh pineapple, cut into 1 inch chunks
2 ripe tomato, wedged
2 cups bean sprouts
2 cups celery (use traditional fresh Taro stems)
2 cups fresh okra, sliced diagonally
1 cup white onions, wedged
Broth:
4 cups seafood or chicken stock
2 cups water
2 tbs sugar
2 tbs fish sauce
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs lemon juice or tamarind powder
1 tbs tom yum paste
Garnish:
Fresh julienned mint leaves, chopped green onions, and sliced hot chili peppers
Directions:
Cut fish fillets into 4 inch chunks.
In a large pot, place broth and all the seasonings. Bring to a boil. Add fish and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add all the vegetables except the bean sprouts. Bring soup back to a boil and continue cooking for 5 minutes. In a serving bowl, place bean sprouts and ladle soup over them. Sprinkle with mint leaves, green onions, and hot chili peppers.
We served this soup as an appetizer in our restaurant, but it can be served as a main meal as the photo shows with a plate of vegetables and a bowl of cooked rice noodles